I hope this email finds you and your families well. The educators are still “going strong” in their work with their students. Below is the OU-JLIC update from this past week. My plan is to have these updates at least until after Shavuot.
Impact In Numbers
- 98 advisory meetings took place with OU-JLIC educators and Hillel, Student Groups, or other groups/organizations
- 308 virtual coffee dates (including chevrutah learning and check ins)
- 848 texting and whatsapp check-ins with students
- 21 students were delivered food by OU-JLIC educators
- 87 Chaburot and Shiurim were given last week by OU-JLIC educators
- 1,026 students and their family members took part in OU-JLIC chaburot and chevrutot this past week
- 23 non-learning events and programs took place over the last week
- 443 divrei Torah were sent by OU-JLIC educators to 5,803 people
- 312 Halachic questions were answered by OU-JLIC educators and 54 of these questions were related to COVID-19
- 19 chattanim/kallot were taught by OU-JLIC this past week
Personal Connections
- Rabbi Aaron Greenberg (Greater Toronto) officiated at Pearl Kraft and Nadav Gasner’s wedding this past Sunday. As you can see if you watch this video, an abundance of caution, social distancing and Zoom were used in conducting this celebration. This is a very special simcha for the OU-JLIC Toronto community, for Nadav and Pearl are very active on their campuses with OU-JLIC. Following the OU-JLIC full service model, Rabbi Greenberg and his wife Miriam (also an OU-JLIC educator) have taught them both, have had them over for many Shabbat meals and even set them up.
OU-JLIC female educators organized an OU-JLIC Ladies Zoom for educators to schmooze and discuss the current situation. - A student at Princeton University who has a strong passion for the arts expressed to OU-JLIC educator, Shira Kahn, that she resented the Jewish world because it limited her ability to be involved in the arts. Shira helped her develop a new perspective and the student realized that she wouldn’t want to give up her Jewish identity to become more involved in the arts.
Rabbi Benny and Sara Berlin (Queens College) spoke at two virtual engagement parties for their students. - A Western University student told Rabbi Dr. Rod Najibi that their chevruta was the highlight of his week.
- A student contacted Jeremy Tibbetts (Yavneh on Campus) expressing concern that he was graduating and would no longer be able to stay involved in Yavneh. Jeremy and this soon to be alumnus generated some ideas for alumni engagement that they plan to implement in the near future.
- Over the past 6 weeks, Rabbi Noam and Shiffy Friedman (Columbia/Barnard) have reached out to and spoken to over 160 unique students and alumni individually over the phone, most of the time with both of them on the call.
Yom HaShoa Programming
- Rabbi Raffi and Ariella Leichit (UMass) lead a discussion based on the journal of Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira of Piacezna, Rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto. It was a very meaningful discussion with students.
- NYU educators, Rabbi Joe Wolfson and Corinne Shmuel (NYU) invited a student’s grandfather and great-uncle to speak about their experiences being hidden by righteous gentiles as young children in France during WWII. The NYU student interviewed them over Zoom – it was extremely well presented, very moving and had a huge attendance of 106 accounts, mostly with families.
- Both Rabbi Josh Botwinick (IDC-Herzliya) and Rabbi Noam Friedman (Columbia/Barnard) gave shiurim on Halachic Teshuvot on the Holocaust.
- Queens College ran a Yom HaShoah event for students where grandchildren of survivors spoke.
- Jehuda Lindenblatt, a Holocaust survivor from Budapest, told his story to Brooklyn College Students. After Rabbi Reuven and Shira Boshnack (Brooklyn College) thanked him for speaking, he said to all of the students on the call, “You are the generation who takes it over…show the world the Jews didn’t die. And they won’t. And they will be proud to be a Jew.”
Other Programming Highlights
Sondra Bornstein (CSUN) taught a Rosh Chodesh Iyar session on the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic, how it can make us feel aimless and like we are wandering, which is timely considering the journey of Sefirat HaOmer from Pesach to Shavuot.- Tal Attia co-led an OU-JLIC/Yavneh info session with TVA students about leadership. There are 10 TVA students coming to Binghamton next year.
- OU-JLIC at Cornell University educators, Rabbi Daniel and Sarah Kasdan, ran a fun event called “Tell Rabbi Kasdan How to Make Cholent” (over zoom) where they had students log onto a Zoom call and walk Daniel, who has no idea how to cook, through the cholent-making process.
- Rabbi Nick and Orit Faguet gave a shiur entitled “Honoring Parents while in Quarantine”. Students logged in, everyone had the opportunity to ask their own specific questions, followed by Rabbi NIck going over the halachot and their practical applications during this time. The Faguets spoke about how this is an incredible opportunity to spend time with family and be able to keep the mitzvah of kibbud av v’em.
- OU-JLIC student at IDC-Herzliya, Raphi Bitton, partners with Lev Echad (considered an Essential Organization) to set up students who can help disabled or isolated people around Herzliya who desperately need help with shopping for food and medicine.
- Rabbi Arye Greenberg spent two hours in an intense meeting with the Gabbaim of the Brandeis Orthodox Minyan who had been asked by a group of students to make changes to the minhagim of the minyan. The students were very thankful to have Rabbi Arye guide them through these decisions and wrote a letter to the entire community with a summary of the discussion.
A Sampling of Halachic Questions and Concerns
- If my mother passes away and I am not going to the levaya in South Africa, when do I start shiva?
Can I listen to music during sefirat haomer to help me stay focused on studying and to help keep my spirits up while I’m stuck at home this year? - I was just reading a couple of things on the counting of the omer that said that women either should not count the omer or, if they are counting, should count without a blessing. Is this the general opinion?
- Must I pay a playgroup which opened up (legally) this week [even if I am not currently sending my child there]?
- If I casually say “oh tonight is day 15 of the omer,” am I not allowed to count with a bracha?
- I know its sefira, but I’ve been quarantined for so long that my hair is out of control. Is there any heter to get a haircut before lag baomer if I can find a barbershop that is open?
- Is there a formula one can use in tefillot (i.e. misheberach or private prayer added to refaenu) that accounts for “sha’ar cholei olam” as well “sha’ar cholei Yisrael”?
- “Got a problem, I lost my tefillin, but I have corona. What should I do?
- An alumni called as his wife (also an alumna) was outside of the Mikvah and froze, terrified to enter because of Corona. He was seeking advice on what would be the appropriate thing to say and how to address her fear, unsure about the ideal resolution. The OU-JLIC educator coached them through it in real time, hearing them both and alleviating her fears – ultimately enabling her to immerse.
- Can one groom him/herself on Erev Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh?
- Whether a student, unable to hire a non-Jewish driver on account of Covid-19 restrictions, could drive to and from her ailing father on Shabbat.
Thanks and all the best,
Ilan